Unless otherwise indicated herein, the details in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Until the middle of the twentieth century, almost all children in the world were breastfed by their mothers (or a substitute such as a wet nurse). From around the 1940's through the 1990's, the popularity and prevalence of breastfeeding decreased in the United States. In the late part of the twentieth century and over the past ten to fifteen years, breastfeeding has experienced a revival in the United States, with medical experts encouraging mothers to breastfeed children based upon a large body of scientific evidence that breastfeeding encourages healthy growth and development of children.
In modern American society, however, many mothers work outside the home or are busy with various activities that often require them to leave their homes. For many mothers, this time away from the home can be disruptive to breastfeeding schedules. Some mothers employ breast pumps to pump or express breast milk at home, at the office, or elsewhere.
Because breast milk is consumed primarily by young children, first and foremost infants of zero to six months of age and secondarily children up to about two to four years of age, some experts encourage sterilization and frequent cleaning of breast pump components. When away from the home, mothers may experience difficulty in finding a suitable place and/or equipment to thoroughly clean the breast pump components. As such, breast pumping outside the home can be difficult for mothers.
Furthermore, some women experience pain during or after breast pumping. In particular, some women experience pain as the nipples enlarge during pumping and/or from rubbing that can occur during use of a breast pump. Various approaches are used in an attempt to reduce this pain. For example, some mothers use a low setting for a breast pump at the beginning of pumping and later, after the nipple has extended and/or enlarged, the suction and/or speed of the breast pump can be increased without causing pain to the mother.
Because some breast pumps do not have variable settings, and because many mothers want to complete breast pumping as quickly as possible when away from the home, some mothers are unable to address the pain that may occur during pumping. Because of this, some mothers are discouraged from breastfeeding their children or may cease breastfeeding at the earliest opportunity.